Leases |
9 Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sep. 30, 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leases and Transponder Service Agreements [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leases of lessee disclosure |
Leases
Future minimum payments under noncancelable operating leases and capital leases with initial terms of one year or more at September 30, 2018 consisted of the following:
The Company has entered into fourteen separate capital lease agreements with transponder and transmitter network suppliers to transmit its signals in the U.S., Germany and France at an aggregate monthly cost of $1 million. The Company is also party to a capital lease agreement for data processing hardware. Depreciation expense related to these capital leases was $3 million for each of the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, depreciation expense related to these capital leases was $11 million and $9 million, respectively. Total future minimum capital lease payments of $237 million includes $55 million of imputed interest. The transponder service agreements for our U.S. transponders expire between 2019 and 2023. The transponder and transmitter network service agreements for our international transponders expire between 2019 and 2027.
Expenses for operating leases, principally for data processing equipment, facilities, satellite uplink service agreements and the California distribution center land through August 2018, amounted to $6 million and $5 million for each of the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 and $18 million and $17 million for each of the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017.
On July 2, 2015, QVC entered into a lease (the “Lease”) for a California distribution center. Pursuant to the Lease, the landlord built an approximately one million square foot rental building in Ontario, California (the “Premises”), and thereafter leased the Premises to QVC as its new California distribution center for an initial term of 15 years. Under the Lease, QVC was required to pay an initial base rent of approximately $6 million per year, increasing to approximately $8 million per year by the final year of the initial term, as well as all real estate taxes and other building operating costs. QVC also had an option to extend the term of the Lease for up to two consecutive terms of 10 years each.
The Company concluded that it was the deemed owner (for accounting purposes only) of the Premises during the construction period under build to suit lease accounting. Upon opening the distribution center, the Company evaluated whether the Lease met the criteria for "sale-leaseback" treatment under U.S. GAAP and concluded that it did not and therefore treated the Lease as a financing obligation and lease payments were attributed to: (1) a reduction of the principal financing obligation; (2) imputed interest expense; and (3) land lease expense representing an imputed cost to lease the underlying land of the Premises.
In August 2018, QVC exercised the right to purchase the Premises and related land from the landlord by entering into an amended and restated agreement ("New Lease"). QVC made an initial payment of $10 million and will make annual payments of $12 million over a term of 13 years. The Company classifies the New Lease within capital lease obligations and lease payments are attributed to: (1) a reduction of the principal obligation and (2) imputed interest expense. In connection with the New Lease, QVC capitalized the related land at fair market value while the building asset is currently being depreciated over its estimated useful life of 20 years.
On October 5, 2018, subsequent to the end of the third quarter of 2018, QVC entered into a lease (“ECDC Lease”) for an East Coast distribution center as part of the QRG Initiatives. The 1.7 million square foot rental building is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and will be leased to QVC for an initial term of 15 years. QVC expects the ECDC Lease to commence in the third quarter of 2019, at which point the discounted value of the ECDC Lease will be recorded as an asset and a liability in the consolidated balance sheets in accordance with ASU No. 2016-02, which will be adopted by the Company on January 1, 2019. Under the ECDC Lease, QVC will be required to pay an initial base rent of approximately $10 million per year, increasing to approximately $14 million per year, as well as all real estate taxes and other building operating costs. QVC also has the option to extend the term of the ECDC Lease for up to two consecutive terms of 5 years each and one final term of 4 years.
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